Where is price now in relation to where it was X bars ago. And is this data set over time likely to be predictive of where price may be X bars into the future, for a particular instrument? Yes, keep it simple.
Charts are about where price is going and the crowd then follow. Now if the majority are wrong (the crowd) what is the point? If majority of traders get it wrong and the majority use charts isn't that a wakeup call? Or... does the crowd believe that individually they are not the crowd but one of the elite?
Those who swear to trade via their special indicators are led down the garden path. Those who are die hard traders who swear by trading price action are led down another garden path. There is no edge or holy grail with price action trading. Price action has no advantage over indicators. Of course both camps will yell and scream and shout abuse in support of their favorite toy but fogetaboudit. There's just as much bs with price action as in indicators. Period!
Certainly don't disagree with that. Trading in almost all aspects is a very personal thing -- what works for one may not work at all for another. There is another factor at play for about half of people trying to trade... https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/irlens-scotopic-syndrome.333900/ The more this affects someone, the more price action works for them (because there is less on the screen to cause visual exhaustion). I have a moderate case of this. Virtually nobody who has this issue realizes their vision is not typical or normal. Really. It is amazing once you recognize it. This goes along with and creates decision fatigue... loss of the big picture/why you are doing what you are doing... just taking any trade (sort of to get it over with)... and being easily distracted. So many traders at the end of the day realize they did not follow their plan. Took all kinds of trades they see no reason for after the fact. And realize they were not looking at the screen when whatever they were looking for happened. There is a lot more you can say about this. And with knowledge one can deal with it.
Hooti, This is very true. After about 2 hours of starring at chart, decision making gets lower. The fixed was limiting trades to 1-2 per day, and 2 hours of starring.
%% MAYBE; but for those that study+ read, an up trending bull market ............can be real profitable. Long-short hedge funds did >> 11%, elite link noted, SPY did better.......................................
In all seriousness, it would not be time lost to understand how an ethologist studies the behavior of a previously unstudied animal species. Get a textbook on ethology and see what parallels one can draw between price action and stimulus and response of an animal. Having done ethology professionally helped me at least approach the market with the right attitude. I mean, an ethologist would never argue with what an animal does. The animal's behavior is right and true whether one likes it or not, just as is the market's. There's way more stimulus/response structure to price action than is widely known.